Source: Daily_Mail
Manchester City v Liverpool - live
Tonight marks another major moment in the recent history of Manchester City as they prepare to blood James Milner against their rivals for the top four, Liverpool. Keep track of all the latest action from Eastlands with Sportsmail's Dan Ripley.[LNB] Manchester City 2-0 Liverpool (8pm) Manchester City: Hart, Richards, Kolo Toure, Kompany, Lescott, De Jong, Yaya Toure, Barry, Milner, Adam Johnson, Tevez. Subs: Given, Zabaleta, Wright-Philips, Silva, Vieira, Adebayor, Jo.[LNB]Liverpool: Reina, Glen Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Agger, Kuyt, Gerrard, Lucas, Jovanovic, Torres, Ngog. Subs: Jones, Aurelio, Kyrgiakos, Maxi, Poulsen, Pacheco, Babel [LNB]Referee: Phil Dowd (Stoke-on-Trent)[LNB]62min: City seemed to have found some composure now and they win a corner through another Adam Johnson led attack, he has been very effective tonight.[LNB]59min: Only two years ago Liverpool came back from 2-0 to win 3-2 and with the tempo rising Micah Richards is booked for a foul on Torres.[LNB]57min: What on earth is going on here? It's all of a sudden all Liverpool and how they do not score will forever remain a mystery. Gerrard has another long range effort that hits the post, and after Ngog's follow up efforts are saved by Hart, Torres then can only fire in to a City defender as Liverpool gain a corner.[LNB]56min: Liverpool have responded well here and more particularly Gerrard who moments after seeing his cannon of a shot deflected for a corner wins a free-kick 25 yards out.[LNB]It's disappointingly though as he crashes the strike in to the wall.[LNB]51min: GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 Liverpool[LNB]From that corner Micah Richards rises like a salmon to header downwards to Reina, but Carlos Tevez is waiting right in front of the keeper and after attempting a volley gets the slightest touch on it with the loose stiching on his right foot.[LNB]50min: Liverpool defence is breached again, Barry finds Tevez in the box with a lovely through ball who lays it back towards Johnson and after some initial trickery sees his shot deflected for a corner.[LNB]48min: Same old story for Hodgson's side, after some risky passing at the back the run out of ideas and just pump the ball aimlessly up field, no signs of a comeback so far.[LNB]Second-half: Man City get the second half under way, no changes from either side.[LNB]HT: From a Man City point of view, it's been impressive. Aside from the goal, Liverpool have dealt with the final ball very well and City have made the most of what was on offer to them. Milner and Johnson seem to be the difference between the two sides right now.[LNB]HT: They are by no means out of this, no side ever is at only 1-0 down, but Liverpool are going to have to try 'Plan B' here.[LNB]Torres and Ngog have been nullified by the City defence thus far and Roy Hodgson's side have been reduced to a couple of speculative long range Gerrad efforts.[LNB]Half-time: Manchester City 1-0 Liverpool[LNB]45min: One minute injury time, Liverpool ending the better.[LNB]44min: They have done nothing for over half an hour but finally a Liverpool move kicks in to life..twice.[LNB]They both end with Gerrard strikes but perhaps uncharacteristically they are both high and wide and probably sum up Liverpool's half. [LNB]40min: That's a great block by Jamie Carragher but the defending before hand is awful by the Merseyside club. Micah Richards capitalises on a slip to gain possession out wide on the edge of the box before finding Tevez with a short ball with the Argentinian lining up a shot which needed Carragher's intervention.[LNB]37min: Daniel Agger is in for a long night. Adam Johnson again attacks him down the right side but this time he cuts in before firing a left foot shot low to Reina's near post which goes just wide. Reina appeared to have touched that but a goal kick is given.[LNB] Impressive: Milner proved very effective in attack for Man City in the first half[LNB]33min: Nice play from Ngog there, he goes round Joleon Lescott with ease before unleashing a shot from the edge of the box which Hart comfortably takes, was worth a go.[LNB]29min: I can see Eastlands being a very difficult place to come to this season, City are playing with a lot of confidence and with Milner and Johnson given a license to roam down the flanks, they look the much more dangerous in attack.[LNB]26min: City good value for their lead, with Liverpool not really showing urgency to get a goal back yet. Joe Hart so far been reduced to mainly as a spectator taking the occasional goal kick.[LNB] Bright opening: Carlos Tevez looked sharp in the early stages of the first half[LNB]20min: Milner and Johnson are causing all sorts of problems right now. They are finding a tremendous amount of space on the flanks and are almost being invited to fire in crosses.[LNB]One such cross ends up falling to Barry 20 yards out but his first time shot sails just wide.[LNB]18min: It's not happening for Liverpool, the passes don't seem to be sticking and City are edging this one both in goals and in general play, as they win a free-kick 25 yards out.[LNB] Quick off the mark: Gareth Barry strike is well out the reach of Pepe Reina as City take the lead[LNB]13min: GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Liverpool[LNB]Lovely goal for City, but for those of you that are fans of the offside trap look away now. James Milner takes advantage of an anything but flat back four latching on to a through ball in the 18 yard box, the new signing then lays a short ball across for Gareth Barry to strike in to the net. Well worked goal but bad defending.[LNB]12min: Any of you that remember this fixture last season will be pleased to know that we at least have a football match this time.[LNB]The lack of shots or any attacking intent last time was one of the most painful things I have ever watched.[LNB]8min: So unlucky from Adam Johnson. The midfielder casually traps the ball nearly 30 yards out and unleashes a powerful drive that just zips wide of Reina's post. Had it been on target Reina would have got nowhere near it.[LNB]3min: Martin Skrtel lets Adam Johnson know exactly what he is in for this evening, blatantly tripping the winger as he was about to turn and run down the right wing. Phil Dowd sets the tone by booking the Liverpool defender.[LNB]2min: The usual sparring taking place in the early stages, but Liverpool get the first sniff at goal when Ngog puts through Torres who just gets crowded out before he can unleash the trigger.[LNB]Kick-off: Clear evening, packed crowd and Liverpool kick us off.[LNB]Look who's in town: Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour waves to the home fans as he attends his first City game.[LNB] 20.00: Players out on the pitch, raring to go...[LNB]19.56: A Liverpool mascot in the tunnel can barely hide his delight as when he turns round he sees, Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Jamie Carragher walking out the dressing room towards him to shake his hand.[LNB]No need to tell him that won't happen everyday.[LNB]19.50: Both these sides have had very similar starts to the season. Opening with a draw against north London opposition before securing close 1-0 wins in the Europa League.[LNB]Fair to say neither of these are on fire yet, but whatever happens tonight at least one of these sides will be winless after two games, obviously early days, but the Premier League is not a division you want to start playing catch up in.[LNB]19.47: Liverpool have had to make their own changes, with Javier Mascherano being pulled out the squad felling heavy speculation he has played his last game for the club following interest from Barcelona, more on that by clicking here.[LNB]Sub keeper Diego Cavalieri left the club over the weekend so new arrival Brad Jones goes straight to the bench as the new deputy to Pepe Reina.[LNB]19.40: Man City then, no Mario Balotelli tonight, Roberto Mancini has deemed him not fit enough to start this one, but it's a debut for new boy James Milner following his arrival from Aston Villa.[LNB]But also no start for David Silva or Emmanuel Adebayor as Carlos Tevez leads the Man City front line alone tonight.[LNB]In fact Man City's bench is probably strong enough to walk in to most Premier League teams but their spending may not be as silly as you think as Martin Samuel explains.[LNB]19.30: Hands up, who has put a 'tenner' on either of these sides to win 6-0 tonight? If you have then after any other weekend I would have called you an idiot.[LNB]But following the crazy events in the Premier League over the past couple of days I'm not sure of anything anymore.[LNB]Even the team news has thrown up a double sixe (more on those in a sec).[LNB]I appreciate to hear from you so fire away any thoughts on tonight's action at dan.ripley@dailymail.co.uk[LNB] Debut: James Milner's first test for Manchester City is the visit of Liverpool[LNB] MARTIN SAMUEL: Don't mock Manchester City, they may not be as silly as you think...Balotelli can be bigger than Torres, says Manchester City boss Mancini
